People all over the world at this very moment are considering whether they should be an ESL teacher or not. There are many reasons to be one, and also many reasons not to be one. Check out my 10 Reasons You Shouldn’t be an ESL Teacher for the other side of the story. I didn’t know much about ESL when I first became an ESL teacher, and…well, I didn’t know anything. One of the things I didn’t really know was why I wanted to be an ESL teacher in the first place. I’m still not sure I know the answer to that one. If you’re considering being an ESL teacher but just haven’t yet made up your mind, check out some of these reasons you should. It just might make up your mind and make a big difference in a young child’s life somewhere.

1 – You Want to See a New Country

No matter what country you choose to teach ESL in, chances are you’ll be there for at least a year. This can be great if you like traveling, meeting new people, and experiencing a different culture. I’m from Montana and the vast majority of people never go to another country, hell, most don’t even leave the state. To actually live in another country was something I did that most people I meet each day can’t say. Perhaps wherever you’re from is the same and this could be a real selling point for you.

2 – You Want to Learn a Foreign Language

I took a year of Chinese at university before I moved to China, and it really helped me out a lot. But it can’t come anywhere close to actually living in the country whose language you’re learning. The truth is I never improved much beyond my basic Chinese skills, but I could have if I’d wanted to. I spent most of my time improving my English skills, something that I’ve found to be a lot more profitable for me. I met a lot of people living in China that wanted to learn the language. Many tried, a lot gave up. Quite a few got pretty good at it, and I can’t help but think them living there played a part in that. Just because you learn the language doesn’t mean it’s going to do anything for you, but it is a nice thing to do just for yourself.

3 – You Want to Get Out of (insert your country here)

I spent 19 years living in my hometown before I finally left and a good many of those years were spent saying how much I wanted to get out of there. I finally moved to my university town, where I stayed for another 7 years or so, and then I spent 5 years in China. When you’re young you want to get the hell out of wherever you grew up, and there are few places further away than a foreign country. Well, not if you’re living in Europe. But anyways, it’s a great idea.

4 – You Don’t Know What to Do With Your Life

I had this one on the list for 10 reasons you shouldn’t be an ESL teacher. This one cuts both way and when you don’t know what to do with your life living in another country could be the best answer. One thing I found was that I didn’t want to live like people in China. No one made any money, at least the vast majority of people, and their living conditions were never very good. I also realized hat I sure the hell didn’t want to be an ESL teacher for the rest of my life, so in that regard moving abroad was really good for me.

5 – You Don’t Care About Money

If you could give a damn about money then being an ESL teacher is a great job for you. I worked with one teacher at a training center, and I think he had this attitude. When his contract was up he moved to Yunnan province to work in a public school of some sort for free. Even if you do choose to get paid for your ESL work you wont’ get much. And don’t think you’ll be getting any year-end bonuses or huge pay annual pay increases, either. Most likely you’ll get a standard raise, if even that. I don’t think I ever met an ESL teacher that was in it for the money. I met a few people that wanted to make money, and they transitioned into business. Quite a few made successful ESL websites or spun their knowledge off into things that made the money. I suppose I’m doing the same thing, although on a much smaller scale.

6 – You Want as Little Responsibility as Possible

When you’re an ESL teacher you’ll rarely have a boss breathing down your neck. This is great if you hate bosses, like to do your own thing, or just don’t care about your job. The first year I was an ESL teacher I usually had another teacher in the room with me. They usually didn’t help much and I largely did what I wanted. My second year no one ever watched my classes and I did all kinds of things, especially watch movies. When I got to training centers you’d be expected to follow a book, but really, you could do whatever you wanted. As long as you had a certain amount of paperwork done you could pretty much play games and whatnot. Those were the most popular teachers, the ones that said ‘screw it’ and played games.

7 – You Want a Job that Makes You Smile

I never had a job where I smiled as much as I did when I was an ESL teacher. This is probably because you play games so much, but also because you’re around kids. They say interesting things, they do silly and stupid stuff, and it’s generally just fun to be around them. Now do this for a couple years and you might think differently, but for the most part it’s alright.

8 – Your Creativity Soars

Look at me. I’m a perfect example of what your creativity can do for you. I now sit at home and write stories and people pay me. Of course I also write a lot of other, more boring things as well, but the point is I’m doing something creative and that I love. I became a lot more creative by teaching ESL. Anyone who’s looked around this site can tell that there are at least a few creative ideas present, and if you look at my other site, www.bigskywords.com you’ll see even more. The point is, you can take those silly little games, stories, and characters you’re making up in class and use, if not them, then at least the idea of them to fuel your future endeavors. Creativity is worth a lot to people, believe me, and not everyone has it. The fact that you’re teaching ESL means that you have it, whether you brought it with you or took a crash-course in learning it during your first few weeks. Find a way to make that work for you and market its potential for you.

9 – Your Parents Have a Lot of Money

This isn’t necessarily something you need in order to be an ESL teacher, but it certainly does help. Whenever you’re talking about living in another country you know the travel costs are going to be up there. And just getting yourself set up will take quite a bit of cash. Don’t forget as well that when you start a new ESL job in another country, you’ll often not see a paycheck for the first 2 months. When I worked at training centers most new teachers would come fresh from overseas. They’d have to find an apartment to live in within about 3 to 4 days of getting there, mainly to get the paperwork sorted out. And usually they didn’t have the money to do this, so the company would garnish their wages for a few months with a loan. That’s just one example of how having money, or at least parents that do, is really helpful when you decide to become an ESL teacher. And when you decide not to be an ESL teacher anymore then it’ll also come in real handy. Few ESL teachers manage to build up any kind of savings, and getting a job can be rough. After all, teaching ESL doesn’t give you a whole lot of job prospects, so expect to be sitting around for a few months upon your return.

10 – It’s Your Dream Job

Every child grows up thinking of all the wondrous things they could be. Maybe the dream is to be a fireman or policeman; perhaps an astronaut or ship captain; or even a zookeeper or marine biologist. If you’ve grown up your whole life dreaming of teaching kids English, then you should definitely give an ESL teaching job a try. I’m sure there are countless little boys and girls drawing pictures of grammar lessons and PowerPoint games in their notebooks in all the great schools around the world. I’ve never seen one, but it could be true. Obviously there are a lot more reasons to be an ESL teacher than this. I can’t think of many more, even though I’ve been working on this list for a couple days off and on. I guess that’s because I’ve moved on from teaching ESL and am happier for it. Still, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today without those 5 years of teaching ESL, and maybe one day you’ll feel the same. What better reason to have your own ESL adventure?

You sound like one of those unqualified ESL teachers who kind of blew at teaching, sucked at saving money, and got laughable jobs due to lack of research. Then you figured everyone else is the TESL industry made the same mistakes you did so you wouldn't feel like such a loser. Granted, many did. But many people in any career suck. At least they know that they're not qualified to advise others.

I never said your ideas are useless. I said what I said, and it seems to be supported by what I can see. Haven't you written books that confess this?

Some people aren't teachers. Some people aren't ESL teachers. You clearly are neither. Some people are, though. They don't settle for sweat shop joke schools. Basically, everything you claim won't work, actually does all the time.

Obviously, you didn't do well in ESL. You write now, which is cool. But if I tried to write, and didn't succeed, should I treat writing as something kids do before they get big boy jobs? Or should I suck it up, say I wasn't good enough, and move on?

:D

Greg Strandberg

10/20/2014 11:44:53 am

Maybe you'd care to give us some information on where you're living and working and teaching ESL, Loren, and which company you're working for.

Everyone knows about me and my stance on the issues. I think teaching ESL is a dead-end job that anyone working at for a long time is doing because they can't or won't do anything else.

I'd hate to be a 50-year old ESL teacher, having done that for the past 20 years or so. But maybe that's fine for many. Great. More power to you. What do you want me to say?

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Loren Brandon

10/22/2014 07:14:15 am

LOL. askin all these questions.

While doing relief work in Honduras, I was told by a missionary that education, specifically a bilingual one, is the best chance kids have in the world, and that's not just for impoverished kids. so I studied at a language school abroad, got an esl certificate, taught with a great salary, took vacations all over the world, and came home with several thousand dollars in my pocket. That wasn't even such a great gig, though certainly far better than anything you seem to think is all that's out there.

Back in the States, I took more courses for teaching, but in the mean time, I started coordinating a regional program, got my own office, and made good money. Just found out that one of the kids I cared for back in Honduras has passed. That made me want to get back into ESL, this time working in developing countries for underprivileged kids.

As for what I want you to say, I guess I'm just talking about the sweeping statements you think you're entitled to make because you chose to teach children when you don't want to teach children, work for pennies and assume that everyone made the same, and then quit and think that you understand every esl school on the planet and. Still more, you advise people with that narrow mindset.

I understand that you're a writer and need something to talk about. I'm glad you make a living writing or whatever other thing you do. I'm not insulting the fact that clearly you're a driven person. I just think you're inexperienced and wrong about certain things.

That's about all.

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Greg Strandberg

10/22/2014 08:13:01 am

I am entitled to make those statements, loren, because I have a platform that allows me to, and an audience that puts up with it.

I began to realize the mindset of many lifer-ESL teachers was narrow.

Who's going to take care of you in old age? Most of the time it'll be whatever social safety nets your home countries have. That's great, but in the US, you have to pay into that system. I'd hate to be a teacher that came home after 30 years of teaching expecting to get Social Security I could live on.

I guess there are just places in the world that value ESL teachers. China certainly isn't one of those, and that's the audience this site is for.

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Greg Strandberg

From 2008 to 2013 I was an ESL teacher in Shenzhen, China. I've worked in public schools, training centers, and one-on-one as a tutor.

This site is designed to help new teachers, or teachers that are struggling. You'll find free PowerPoints and free advice.

If you'd like to see what I do when I'm not giving ESL teaching advice, check out my writing website or some of my books below.